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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30030816">Alright is Temporary</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clare_Hope/pseuds/Clare_Hope'>Clare_Hope</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode: s04e13 Journey's End, Missing Scene, and rose deserved to know what happened to him, rose and jack are best friends and i'll die on this hill, they deserved to have a reunion</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 00:02:20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,951</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30030816</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clare_Hope/pseuds/Clare_Hope</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Rose meets Jack's team at Torchwood and finally gets a moment to have a real conversation with her old friend.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jack Harkness &amp; Rose Tyler, Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>74</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Alright is Temporary</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hello! The fact that Rose and Jack never get to have an actual conversation in Journey's End makes me very upset, so I gave them the scene I thought they deserved. I altered canon slightly to make it so Jack gets dropped off separately in Cardiff instead of leaving with Martha and Mickey (I understand that they didn't really have time to do that in the show, but like, it doesn't make any sense lmao). Hope you enjoy! &lt;3</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Off you go, then. Roald Dahl Plass,” the Doctor said. “Tell your team I said thanks, okay?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Rose smiled as Jack gave the Doctor a sharp salute and the Doctor returned a casual, two-fingered one. Some things never changed. Then Jack turned to her. “Rose,” he started. “We didn’t get much of a chance to chat, but I just want you to know--it was really, </span>
  <em>
    <span>really</span>
  </em>
  <span> good to see you again.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You, too,” she replied. Tears sprang to her eyes. Through all of her parallel-world hopping, she’d never come across another version of Jack, and she hadn’t expected to find him here. She’d been too stunned and preoccupied when the Doctor had been hit by the Dalek to even really register Jack’s presence until he was shielding her and Donna from the regeneration energy and her face had pressed against his familiar coat. After that, as Jack had said, they hadn’t gotten any time to talk. But she had so many questions for him. Why was he </span>
  <em>
    <span>here</span>
  </em>
  <span>? She was fuzzy on the details, but she’d been under the impression that he’d stayed behind on Satellite Five to try and help the people of Earth rebuild their broken society. And how had he survived that blast from the Dalek?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jack left the TARDIS. Quickly, Rose looked at the Doctor. The real Doctor, not the metacrisis almost-Doctor. “I want to meet Jack’s team,” she said. “I’ll be right back, ‘kay? Don’t leave without me!” Before anyone could protest, she rushed after Jack and out into the Plass. “Jack! Wait up!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He turned back. “What are you--”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I wanna meet your team,” she told him, and linked her arm through his. “Cardiff, hm? What, did you get nostalgic for our little Slitheen adventure?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I, um--” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Jack!” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Two people were running towards them. Rose recognized them from the video feed. Gwen, who looked so similar to Gwyneth, the woman who sacrificed herself in 1869 to save the world from the Gelth, was in front. She was the one who had shouted. Rose quickly stepped back so she wasn’t knocked over as Gwen threw herself at Jack.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey, hey, I’ve got you!” Jack exclaimed. He hugged her tightly. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, I’m fine! We’re both fine! A little bruised and battered, but absolutely fine!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Trailing a short distance behind Gwen was the other member of Jack’s team that she’d seen, the young man. She knew he’d introduced himself right at the start, but she couldn’t remember his name. It was something very Welsh, she thought. Jack released Gwen, reaching for him. He ran the last few steps. Jack caught him and pulled him close. “You’re okay,” he mumbled. “You’re okay.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Tosh saved us,” the young man said. “Her time-freezing lockdown, it worked. It activated. Jack…” His voice trailed off.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Of course it did. Wonderful, brilliant Toshiko. She’s never gonna stop saving us.” Jack cupped his hands around the young man’s face and kissed him. “You’re okay, though?” he checked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Like Gwen said, just a bit bruised.” He caught sight of Rose and gave her a friendly, slightly shy smile. “Hello.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hi,” she said with a grin. “I’m Rose. Rose Tyler.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ianto Jones. You’re a friend of the Doctor’s, then?” he asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes! Yes, and Jack. We go a long way back. When I traveled with the Doctor, Jack came with us for a while.” Rose frowned as she saw a flicker of distrust across Ianto’s face and he took a small step closer to Jack. “What is it?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ianto, it’s okay,” Jack said quietly. “Rose didn’t know. She doesn’t know.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What don’t I know?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How can she not know?” said Ianto. “She said she was with you then. How does she not </span>
  <em>
    <span>know</span>
  </em>
  <span>?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Rose looked back and forth between them. “What don’t I know?” she demanded. “Jack?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He winced. “I was kinda hoping I wouldn’t have to tell you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“‘Kay, well, get over it, ‘cause you do! What aren’t you telling me, Captain Jack? Is it about why you’re in Cardiff in the 21st century, or how you survived getting shot point blank by a Dalek? Because I want to know both of those things!” she said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ianto looked at Jack sharply. “You got killed by a Dalek?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Almost.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So she </span>
  <em>
    <span>really</span>
  </em>
  <span> doesn’t know, then?” Gwen asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“There’s more than just that,” Jack replied. “Things you don’t know either. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Personal</span>
  </em>
  <span> things. Gwen, Ianto...I’ll be right back, okay? I’ve gotta talk to Rose alone.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’ll be okay?” Ianto said. He still seemed suspicious.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I promise. </span>
  <em>
    <span>None</span>
  </em>
  <span> of it was Rose’s fault,” Jack insisted. He smiled a little. “Though it’s cute when you get protective.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Ianto rolled his eyes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Rose contained her curiosity as Jack led her a short distance away from his team. Once they were out of earshot, she burst out, “Jack, I--”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What did the Doctor tell you?” Jack interrupted. He was staring up at the water tower. “After Satellite Five. What did you think happened to me?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I...I dunno, he just said you were rebuilding the Earth. It’s a blur, he sent me away and I opened up the center console and…I sort of absorbed the TARDIS’s energy? The Time Vortex. And then I can’t remember anything until I woke up on the floor of the TARDIS and the Doctor was dying. He’d taken the energy out of me because it was killing me, but it killed him instead, and he regenerated,” Rose recounted. “I said...I said we should go back for you. You’d know what to do. But he said you’d be too busy.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jack laughed. He sounded a little bitter. “I died, Rose. We all did. Every last human on Satellite Five. Died fighting, or hiding. I was the last man standing, but I died.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She stared at him. “But you’re not...how…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It was you. All the power of the TARDIS, of the Time Vortex. You brought me back.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Rose’s hand flew up to her mouth. A sudden memory forced itself into her head so strongly that it almost hurt. Through a hazy golden mist, she saw Jack’s body, slumped against a wall. Dead. </span>
  <em>
    <span>“I bring life,”</span>
  </em>
  <span> her own words echoed. “Oh, my God,” she murmured. “I...I think...I remember.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It wasn’t your fault.” He put his arm around her shoulders. “But it went too far. It...it broke me, Rose. Pinned me to the universe as a fixed point in time, and now whenever I die, I get brought back.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, God,” she said again. “You’re...you’re immortal?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s how people usually describe it, yeah. Rose, you have to promise me that you won’t be angry about this next part,” he told her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How could I be angry at you?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Not me. The Doctor.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What--”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Promise me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, I can’t promise that! What did he do? Jack, tell me,” Rose pleaded. Her heart was pounding. She had an awful feeling that she knew what he was going to say.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“He knew. He left me there on purpose, because of what I had become. He didn’t explain, he just left. I came back to life and the TARDIS was leaving without me. I thought that the two of you thought I was still dead, so I tried to get my Vortex Manipulator working again and I managed to get back to Earth. I was aiming for the 21st century--my best chance at finding you and him. But it wasn’t working well, so I landed in 1869. Took me a while to figure out the whole coming-back-to-life thing. The details aren’t important. But I waited a hundred and thirty years before finding the Doctor again,” said Jack. The whole time he was explaining, his voice stayed calm and quiet.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Rose was trembling. “A hundred and thirty years?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Lookin’ good, huh?” He winked at her, but it didn’t really do much to lighten the mood.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry, if I’d known--”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s why he didn’t tell you. But </span>
  <em>
    <span>please</span>
  </em>
  <span> don’t be angry at him,” Jack said hastily. “He was just trying to protect the timeline. We’ve talked. He...apologized. Sort of.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Your, um...Ianto seems to still be pretty angry,” Rose pointed out.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jack’s mouth twitched. “My, um, Ianto, huh?” he teased. “Yeah, he’s a lot of things. Protective, like I said. He doesn’t like to see the people he cares about get hurt. I forgave the Doctor a long time ago, but I don’t think Ianto ever will.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Trying to wrap her mind around the idea of Jack just being </span>
  <em>
    <span>left</span>
  </em>
  <span> on Satellite Five by the Doctor (and that the Doctor had lied to her), Rose shook her head. “Are you alright?” she asked. “I mean, are you okay here?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I have Gwen and Ianto. We...we lost two other members of our team a few months ago,” he added, his voice shaking for the first time. “Owen and Toshiko died heroes. But I still have Gwen and Ianto. And Gwen’s husband, Rhys, though he doesn’t work with us. We’re Torchwood--you knew that. But not the same Torchwood that caused Canary Wharf. I saw your name on the list of the dead, Rose, it was…” He shivered.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I didn’t die, I was trapped in a parallel universe.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I know, the Doctor told me when I saw him again.” Jack glanced over his shoulder at his team. “Ianto was at Canary Wharf too. He worked at Torchwood One as an archivist. His girlfriend died there. And the Daleks today...I should get back to him. I think he’s a little shaken up.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, course. But Jack, you didn’t answer my question. Are you alright?” she repeated.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jack hesitated. “For now,” he answered. “I’m gonna live forever, Rose, and they’re not. All ‘alright’ is temporary for me.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her vision blurred with tears and she wrapped her arms around his waist. “I’m so sorry, Jack,” she mumbled.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey, it’s okay, don’t worry about me,” he said. Still, he hugged her back, resting his cheek on top of her head. “Rose, you’re gonna be amazing out there. You and the Doctor. Just remember the good times, okay? And I will, too.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She tried to hold back a sob. “I’ll come back and visit you,” she promised, letting go of him and meeting his eyes. There was a look there that said he didn’t believe her. “I will!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He wiped a tear off her cheek gently. “You should get back to the TARDIS.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How...how can I just leave you here?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’ll survive,” he said wryly. “C’mon.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Reluctantly, she walked with Jack over to his team. Ianto had sort of leaned against Gwen, who supported him with an arm behind his back. They both looked exhausted. Rose went right up to Ianto. “I swear I didn’t know,” she said. “I’d </span>
  <em>
    <span>never</span>
  </em>
  <span> have left if I’d known.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I believe you,” Ianto said, his voice much softer than it had been before. “Jack, we...the Hub is a complete disaster. It’ll take weeks to clean it up.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t worry about it tonight. Rose, you gotta go. I’ve kept you for too long as it is,” Jack said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She bit her lip. “Take care of him,” she told Ianto and Gwen.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Always,” Ianto said. Gwen nodded with a sad smile.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Bye, Jack.” Rose kissed his cheek. “See you in hell,” she added in a whisper.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jack laughed--a real, genuine laugh. “Not if I see you first!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Looking over her shoulder, Rose walked back to the TARDIS and watched as Jack’s team pulled him into another hug and he kissed both of their foreheads. She stepped onto the ship satisfied with the knowledge that, at least for now, her friend was in good hands.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks for reading! If you want to see my take on what happens in the Torchwood side of this post-episode, follow my other fic <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29460345"><b>Staying</b></a>, where I'll have that as (rough estimate) Chapter 13. I'm on tumblr @queerianto (for Torchwood) and @hopefulqueer (my main, where my Doctor Who stuff goes). I hope you're having a very nice day and that you're excited for something in the near future. Be kind to yourself! I love you! &lt;3 ~Martin</p></blockquote></div></div>
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